Drinking alcohol in your youth may improve your chances of success and higher income levels in later life.
While alcohol has long been confirmed to cause a wide variety of long-term side effects, including liver disease and cancers, new research has also found a correlation between heavy drinking in your youth and higher levels of education and income.
In his recently published book, The Beauty and Pain of Drugs, Norwegian sociologist Willy Pedersen argues that intoxicating substances, including alcohol, may have the ability to advance young people’s careers by breaking down social inhibitions and reducing awkwardness.
He said: “It’s obviously not the fact that [if] you drink alcohol, that it sort of comes into your body and does something with your brain,” The Times reported.
“The most likely explanation is that all alcohol is a kind of marker of sociality and that habit comes with some types of benefits.”
Mr Pedersen and his colleagues from the University of Oslo spent 18 years studying the drinking habits of more than 3,000 Norwegians between 13 and to 31-years-old.
Young people who began regularly binge drinking in their late teens and twenties had higher levels of education and income in comparison to those who drank little or not at all.
“There is a correlation,” he said. “The statistical findings are quite strong, so clearly significant.”
Mr Pedersen referenced Oxford University’s Bullingdon Club, an all-male drinking club, known for its elite and wealthy members, including former prime ministers Boris Johnson and David Cameron.
While an association between drinking and success may exist, the study does not rule out that this could come down to the privileged and promising paths that those who heavily drink might already be on, like in the Bullingdon Club.
Though there may be some positive associations that come from drinking in your youth, Mr Pedersen warned against alcoholism or drinking in solitude, with no evidence suggesting that doing so will lead to success.
Linda Granlund, the director of public health at the Norwegian government’s directorate of health, said that alcohol still poses a significant risk despite any social and cultural functions it may have.
“I will encourage reduction. If you have a high alcohol intake, reduce it. And if you have a low intake, you should still consider if it could be lowered,” she said. “Lower intake means higher life expectancy and lower risk of illness. Every glass you choose to skip is good for your health,” she told the The Times.
